What term describes the degree of damage a pathogen inflicts on its host?

The degree of damage a pathogen inflicts on its host is referred to as virulence. Virulence is a measure of how harmful a pathogen can be, which encompasses the severity of the disease it causes and its ability to produce symptoms. It is often quantified by factors such as the infectious dose, the pathogen’s capacity to evade or suppress the host’s immune response, and the extent of tissue damage caused during infection.

In contrast, pathogenicity refers to the ability of a pathogen to cause disease in a host, but it does not specifically measure the severity of the damage. Infectivity is about the ability of a pathogen to enter and establish itself in a host, while immunogenicity refers to the ability of a pathogen to elicit an immune response from the host. Thus, virulence specifically highlights the extent of harm inflicted, distinguishing it from these other related but different concepts.